Maserati Quattroporte
The Maserati Quattroporte is a luxury four-door saloon made by Maserati in Italy. The name translated from Italian literally means "four doors". There have been five generations of the car, each separated by a period of roughly five years. Quattroporte I (1963–1969) In the early 1960s, Maserati's reputation was at a high. With growing sales, Prince Karim Aga Khan ordered a special Maserati 5000 WP, chassis no. 103,060, designed by Pietro Frua. The following year, Maserati showed the first-generation Quattroporte of 1963, which bore a striking resemblance to the earlier drawing. While the design was by Frua, construction was carried out by Vignale. This, the 1963 'Tipo 107' Quattroporte, joined two other notable grand tourers, the Facel Vega and the Lagonda Rapide, which could comfortably do 200 km/h (124 mph) on the new motorways of Europe. However, the Quattroporte could be said to have been the first car specifically designed for this purpose. It was equipped with a 4.1 L (4,136 cc/252 cuin) V8 engine, producing 256 hp (SAE) (191 kW) at 5,600 rpm, and either a five-speed ZF manual transmission or a three-speed automatic. Maserati claimed a top speed of 230 km/h (143 mph). Between 1963 and 1966, 230 examples were made. In 1966, Maserati revised the Tipo 107, adding twin headlights (already on the US model) and, from 1968, a 4.7 L, 295 hp (SAE) (220 kW) engine. Top speed increased to a claimed 255 km/h (160 mph).Around 500 of the second series were made, for a total of 776 Tipo 107 Quattroportes. Production stopped in 1969.s/n 002 Quattroporte V8In 1971, Karim Aga Khan ordered another special on the Maserati Indy platform. Rory Brown was the chief engineer. It received the well known 4.9 litre V8 engine (Tipo 107/49), producing 300 PS (221 kW). Carrozzeria Frua clothed the car, the prototype of which was displayed in Paris 1971 and Geneva 1972. The car was production ready, even receiving its own chassis code (AM 121), but Citroën used their influence to have Maserati to develop the SM-based Quattroporte II instead. In the end only two were finished, chassis #004 was sold by Maserati to the Aga Khan in 1974 and the prototype #002 went to the King of Spain, who bought his directly from Frua. Quattroporte II (1974–1978) In 1974, at the Turin Show, Maserati presented its Quattroporte II (AM 123) on an extended Citroën SM chassis, available since Citroën had purchased the Italian company. It had sparse and slick Bertone bodywork, penned by Marcello Gandini and fashionable at the time, and was the only Maserati Quattroporte to feature hydropneumatic suspension and front wheel drive. It also had the swivelling directional headlights à la SM/DS. However, the 1973 oil crisis intervened. This, combined with the collapse of the Citroën/Maserati relationship, made Maserati unable to gain EEC approval for the car. Most of the cars built were thus sold in the Middle East and in Spain, where such type approval wasn't necessary.rear view, sad conditionFurthermore, the front-wheel drive layout and the modest V6 3.0L powerplant based on the Citroën SM engine didn't attract many customers. Its 210 PS (154 kW) at 5,500 rpm was barely enough to propel the 1,600 kg (3,500 lb) car to 200 km/h (124 mph). Maserati's traditional customers simply wouldn't consider the car a true Maserati. Maserati made 13 Quattroporte IIs. While the prototype was built in 1974, the succeeding twelve cars were built to order between 1976 and 1978. The nearly stillborn Quattroporte II project was very costly for the small company, which found itself in debt to the tune of four billion lire by the end of 1978. Quattroporte III/Royale (1979–1990) Considered a "business man's Maserati," the Quattroporte III was presented by newly empowered Maserati chief Alejandro de Tomaso and his design staff in 1977. This was a rear wheel drive car, powered by a large V8 engine. It was important to de Tomaso that there be an Italian vehicle to compete with the recently launched Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9. The Quattroporte III marked the last of the hand-built Italian cars. All exterior joints and seams were filled to give a seamless appearance. In 1976, Giorgetto Giugiaro presented two ItalDesign show cars on Maserati platforms, called the Medici I and Medici II. The latter in particular featured hallmarks which would make it into the production of the third-generation Quattroporte. At the 1977 Turin Motor Show, Maserati announced the Quattroporte III (Tipo AM 330), which took much from the Medici show cars, based on Maserati's Kyalami coupé, which in turn was based on the De Tomaso Longchamp. Special styling emphasis was placed on linearity, which was also useful to reduce tooling cost. The sumptuous interior of the QP IIIThe Quattroporte III went into production in 1979,equipped with a 4,136 cc V8 engine (confusingly referred to as "4200" by Maserati) producing 255 hp (188 kW), later 238 hp (SAE) (177 kW). Also available was a 4.9 litre V8 (280 hp @ 5800 rpm). One distinguishing characteristic of the vehicle was its particularly lavish interior. The automatics initially used a three-speed Borg–Warner automatic transmission, soon replaced by a Chrysler Torqueflite gearbox. Manual gearboxes were ZF-built 5-speeds. The smaller engine was phased out in 1985. From 1979 up to 1981 4porte name was in use, then changed to Quattroporte for up to 1989. In 1986, the Maserati Royale, a handbuilt to order ultra-luxury version of the Quattroporte III, appeared. The engine was upgraded to 295 hp (SAE) (220 kW). In all, 2,155 Quattroporte IIIs were produced,one of them for Italian presidential use. Production ceased in 1990. Turinese coachbuilder Salvatore Diomante also offered a 65 cm longer limousine version, fully equipped with white leather, "abundant burr walnut", mini-bar, video recorder and many other necessities. The price of the Diomante limousine at introduction (1986) was a rather steep 210 million lire. The production figures for the Quattroporte are as follows: *There were 2100 4portes and Quattroporte IIIs produced between 1979 and 1989. *The remaining 55 or 53 cars were Royales, manufactured between late 1986 and 1990. These were US$80,000 cars that were built to order only. Category:Maserati Category:Post-war Category:Modern